About Me

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Watching the most recent youtube offering of brilliance from GossMakeupArtist I was comforted to hear that he’s all about ridding the world of Oompa Loompas too.

Wayne maintains that we are a lot better off working with bronzer instead of false tan as we have more control over shading and can easily start again should things go awry. Not so with Ronseal knuckles, I’ve been there.

While I am obsessed with Xen Tan Luxe, I have been a little remiss lately. In steps a mosaic of fabulousness for €3.49 from NYC. THREE FORTY NINE!

I’m going to hold my hands up here and admit this lovely has sat in my make up stash for a couple of months with no love. I included it in my make up bag, however, when attending the Ellie Balfe Make Up Course to both ensure I knew how to use it correctly and, more importantly, check if it was suitable for me.

Lo and behold Ellie’s all about the NYC mosaic too, saying that these coral, bronzey shades are ideal on a ‘typical Irish’ complexion.

Downward strokes with a large bronzer brush on the highpoints of your face are the way to go. The gals over at Viva Adonis recently put together a really handy face mapping guide to show you where your highpoints are. (I wasn't sure either)

Genuinely, as a quick and easy way to contour and bring some life to your fizzog, this bronzer is the way to go. And hey, if you find it doesn’t suit you, you’re only out the price of a Storbocks, right?

Tuesday, 29 November 2011

Hai, my name's Sue & I'm a polishaholic. What? You're not shocked? Well, here's something that may shock you, I didn't have one single polish from this Best of the Best collection. I know, right?

Seeing Millies.ie advertise this bad boy on Facebook though, I knew it was time to act. #operationshutyerpursehole was suspended and I got to ordering. (Sorry, Girls). Fancy a looksie at some of the most beautiful and lusted after shades that OPI have ever produced? Course you do.

Alpine Snow is the only white that I've ever achieved full opacity in one swish. Perfect for nail art ventures or simple white nails, if Tippex is your thang.

Bubble Bath is an almost translucent pink, for days when you want a more subtle look.

Tickle My Francey is a beautiful pink undertoned nude and has shot into my top ten polishes. Love.

Cajun Shrimp is another instant favourite. A bright pinky coral with stunning colour pay off. It reminds me a lot of Sally Hansen's Kook a Mango.

Big Apple Red, while bright and bold is still on the translucent side. I'm really, really liking it.

I'm Not Really a Waitress, HELLO Crimbo nails! Just.. just look at it!

You Don't Know Jacques! is what my mother would call Muckidy Dunn Brown, the colour of a mouse's diddy but in a good way. It's a perfect office colour.

Russian Navy is probably one of OPIs best sellers of all time, it's a dusky navy purple duochrome that's stunning worn over a black or blue base.

Lincoln Park After Dark is another cult favourite polish and this picture in no way does it justice. It's a deep navy with burgundy undertones. Sophisticated and so, so wearable.

The set can actually be split in two for double gift giving potential!

I picked this up from Millies.ie for €24.50 and paid €3 postage, which only took 2 days. I have, however, seen it across on beautyemporium.ie for €23 with only €2 postage and their delivery is lightening fast too. Either way you're paying, on average, €2.35 per bottle of gorgeousness. I'd genuinely recommend these as a gift or, indeed, a self gift. I had intended to share 'em with D'Mammy, that was before swatching. Say NOTHING!

Monday, 28 November 2011

Howdy Doody, Sweet Patooties! I'll start this post by cheering up someone elses Monday, eh? I had so many wonderful responses to last week's giveaway that the lads couldn't choose any more than I could so we used random.org.

The lucky winner was an anon comment from Wendy!! Wendy, will you please mail me so I can get your prize out to you this week? Thanks everyone for sharing, its genuinely lovely to read all the positivity.

Work has been manic of late, there's several annual events coming up and admin help is thin on the ground. Last Monday was probably the worst of it, as I looked at the monitor and realised that I hadn't stayed this late in years but also that my children may not recognise me by the time I get home, I packed up to leave.

Sure that I was the only one in the building I got a fright seeing my boss' boss leaving his office at exactly the same time. 'Working late, Sue?' 'Ah, no more than usual, I consider this a half day actually'. *Shared chuckle*. Smug City.

Not a lot of things pee me off more than dangerous drivers. A lot of that is to do with the job and a lot to do with the avid hatred of toss pots.

Making my way home last week one such pot of toss undercut me not once but twice. Swerving into the opposite carriage and back again and leaning on his horn behind a learner. He got stuck several times which meant I ended up ahead of him coming up to the lights. With a bus lane on the inside I wasn't surprised to hear him scream up within a minute or so. I was surprised, though, to see blue flashing lights scream out behind him. But prolly not as much as him, right? Now that's a good feeling.

3. 40 Winks with mah Pal...

Time for sleeps?

Everyone, meet Diesel, Diesel, everyone. This big, fat hog has been with us for 4 years now. He's the most gorgeous meatball you could imagine and would happily snooze the day away on the trampoline, which he does when not bouncing on it trying to catch planes. He be crazy.

Coming in from work the other evening I wasn't surprised to see him sprawled at the top of the stairs snoring. I was surprised that he seemed to snoring in Dolby surround sound though. As I got the top step I realised why. The youngest lad was sprawled on top of him, still in his uniform, conked out. Diesel got up first, which woke Adam. 'Eh, what are you doing?' 'Oh God' he said groggily, 'I was just rubbing him and we were talking' Hahaha 'You were talking?'. So much love.

The Sis and I had complimentary tickets to Taste of Christmas this weekend, which is handy because there ain't no way I'd pay the extortionate price otherwise. Judging by the queues out the door of the Convention Centre though, many were willing to.

Coming up in the lift from the car park we were admiring the boxes of cupcakes that one lad had to presumably restock his stand. We even joked with him when leaving about how brave he was wandering around with them. As he sauntered off we looked around and realised we were in the main hall. The security guard back at the lift had obviously thought we were crew and let us through. Unbelievable. You couldn't do it if you were trying! The Sis duly pegged it out and regifted our comps to a bewildered looking lady and her chap. Cue loads of thumbs up and delight. Fab.

I'm a big believer in paying it forward. If you've been following for a while or indeed, if you know me personally, you'll know this. That and the strong belief that we're all about the luck in this family. I don't think it's any coincidence that there are strong correlations between the two either. Karma's not just a chameleon, folks.

This past weekend provided several examples of this. Starting with an afterwork party on Friday that I'd won, I opened the invitations to both work and the blogosphere. As a result the ladies gave us tickets for GiftGrub (Hilarious btw). We followed that with a free family ticket to Happy Feet on Saturday morning and a complimentary day at Taste of Christmas, where moment 4 originated. Polishing off the night with tweetseats in Skinflint (Take a twitpic & ate for free). That's one weekend chocked full of awesome with a full purse of a Sunday. Now if that's not argument enough for paying it forward I don't know what is!

Care to share a moment of bliss? Would love to read 'em or any comments. I'd like to preemptively say though that there'll be no rubbing of my belleh for luck, K?

Thursday, 24 November 2011

Konad nail stampers have been around for quite a while now. If I'm honest I've always avoided them because they seemed too fiddly to me, no, I'm not a fan of faffing about to get my talons done.

My Sis picked me up the Christmas special that was on recently on pigsback.com so I was happy to give 'em a whirl.

Luckily, as well as the M12 Christmas plate I recived the M57 animal print one too. We all know I love animal printnails.

Konad recommend you use their polish for stamping purposes as the consistency is so thick, while reading that factoid I was put in mind of Barry Ms Metallic Nail Paint that's just too thick to sit on the nail alone. Tan-spankle-ah-dah! Idea.

I'm highly recommending using the plate on kitchen towel so when you scrape the excess with the scraper it's caught on the paper.

1. Apply the polish to the pattern of your choice & scrape off the excess using the blade/scraper.

2. Pressing the stamp firmly onto the plate you lift up your design.

3. Starting at the tip of your nail roll the stamper onto the nail bed in the desired position. For full nail coverage roll side to side without ever lifting the stamp.

Honestly, this couldn't be easier, folks. You need to work fairly quickly as dry polish will not transfer from the stamp but after a nail or two you'll be flying.

One tip I'll give you is to have mini polish remover pads or remover on tissue to hand to clean as you go (The plate & the scraper). This makes the design sharper and the whole process a lot quicker.

The other designs from the same plate

Head on over to Konad.ie for lists of local demonstrations, prices and products available. Leon has special offers available right now, such as 5 plates for €35 and boasts some of the best customer service skills I've experienced. If it wasn't for #operationshutyerpursehole I'd be over there right now!

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

Impromptu post and invite here, lovelies but I've just had word that I've won an afterwork party this Friday in Dublin City Centre.

There will be free drink, there will be free food & there will be Moi plus a couple o' mates.

There's limited places available so if you're interested in joining us (with a pal of course) for chats and giggles after a long day just send me a DM @ItsCherrySue or details or an email to the blog email, over there >>>>

What's it about? Breaking Dawn is the fourth (third and a halfed?) movie in the series and sees Bella and Edward marry, the subsequent consummation and accidental, immediate pregnancy (it happens, kids). This (super fast)(which is handy) pregnancy threatens the pact between the wolves and the vamps and both Edward and Jacob must work together to protect Bella.

Any Good?

In a word, no. In two words, complete tosh. More words? I have to admit I enjoyed the first two movies, swept up in the guilty pleasure that was Team Jacward, the third film wasn't too bad either, though the constant switching of directors became obvious as the story became disjointed.

To me this outing should never have been made into two films. The drawn out wedding and honeymoon high jinks, while titillating to teens, was monosyllabic and bordering on boring. Understandably critics have argued that the book couldn't be shortened enough to fit it all in, in that case the final instalment better be epic because it looks like we got about 3 fleshed out chapters here.

One of the many, many honeymoon scenes (smiley Edward, like smiley Angel, is just wrong)

The acting in Twilight has never been a highpoint and, God help me, I just don't get Kristin Stewart in this role. Constant eye rolling and a perpetual look of breathy nauseousness does not an actress make. Having seen clips of the Twilight spoof Vampires Suck last week its quite astounding that producers didn't pick Jenn Proske for the part, she's perfect!

As we limp like a wounded CGI wolf towards the finale I'm hoping this film was just a glitch and the last instalment will be back to its cheesy (in a good way) self. Either way Twi-Hards will be happy as, no doubt, they were with this one. Just not for me, folks.

This is the story of Puss from ickle kitteh, through kittenhood and an early adventure before he meets up with Shrek. A prequel with some new sidekicks, Humpty & Softpaws and their attempts to foil evil outlaws Jack & Jill.

Any Good?

Puss in Boots was definitely one of my favourites from the Shrek franchise. It could be his accent, it could be the leather but teaming him with my all time favourite author/director/producer/genius Guillermo del Toro was always going to go well. (In my eyes)

There's some real laugh out loud moments in this film as was with Shrek. The humour is slapstick enough for the children but absolutely quick enough for the adults. An early scene of a dance battle in the (G)Litter Box had the entire audience laugh right the way through.

Mood music kittehs

The story is straightforward and just silly enough to keep you guessing. Both Salma Hayek and Zach Galifianakis slotting into the roles of comedy sidekicks perfectly.

I do have to mention that while the rooftop chases in 3D were great fun, I'm still not convinced that its necessary. The CGI is flawless down to Puss' hairy belleh but I honestly would have preferred a brighter 2D version.

They're some soft paws right there.

Cats are big business right now and any movie that can turn me into a cat person, even temporarily, is doing something very right.

This is a whole load of fairytale fun, a 'must see' if you have little ones and a 'go see regardless' if you don't. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Tuesday, 22 November 2011

You'd have to be living under a rather large rock not to have noticed the Muppet takeover of all things everything in the past few months in the run up to their movie.

I managed to pick up the Muppettes collection from Beautyemporium.ie a couple of weeks back but seeing a raft of reviews I didn't add to it. Until I tried them. Sweet Jebus but they're lovely!

L-R:

Rainbow Connection is a densely packed glitter that has to be seen to be believed. Large and small glitters of all colours, truly mesmerising. This polish is Limited Edition and is already very hard to pick up. I can see it going the way of Mad as a Hatter (The OPI that haunts me) and selling for 3 or 4 times the price very soon.

Excuse Moi is a bright pink glitter in a brighter pink jelly. This one needs a good coat or three from opacity or could be worn over a pink or red for a better result. Love.

Warm & Fozzie is a bronze gold metallic with a pink and silver microglitter. In the bottle this is very like any other bronze but on the nail its warm (& Fozzie). A great office polish.

Wocka Wocka besides making me laugh every time I say it, is one of the richest reds I've seen this season. It applies like a dream with a creamy bright finish. I'll be buying a full size of this fo' sho'.

Designer the Better may be my favourite of the bunch. Its a bright silver foil with copper and pink flecks throughout. Really stunning in natural light yet subtle enough for everyday wear.

So what do we think? Have you been tempted by them and if so, which is your favourite? They're still available for the very reasonable price of €14.50 on Beauty Emporium but you better be quick.

For all of you now in a sweat about Rainbow Connections, please note that the hilarious Sharon over on Behind Green Eyes is currently running a competition to get your mitts on a bottle. You get to read a fab blog AND the chance at a Limited Edition polish? That's all about the win!

Monday, 21 November 2011

The penultimate week in November? Wowsers. For all you lovely followers new to these parts, these are 5 moments from my past week that banish Monday Blues, please feel free to share your moments in the comments. Tis very therapeutic & I love to read 'em...

1. Making D.I.Y my Bitch!

I've always wanted under unit lighting for the kitchen. Firstly I'm in there a lot feeding the swarm of locusts that are my teenage lads (2 of them) and secondly we've started using energy efficient bulbs that only heat up enough to be any use by 1am, when you're heading to bed anyway.

I managed to pick up one such light this week though, with dreaded instructions. Don't get me wrong, I tiled and painted our place myself but that doesn't mean I like D.I.Y. Measuring the light against the units with the pencil on hand I made an awesome discovery. It slotted perfectly into place on the units' ledge. No screws. No hassle. No sweat. I ROCK D.I.Y.

We know I like to write movie reviews, right? They're cunningly hidden up there under the 'Movie Reviews' tab. Something pretty feckin' great happened this week though. Not once but twice.

Randomly scrolling my Twidder timeline I saw one gal ask for movie recommendations and another recommend my site! Within an hour another chap, whom I follow (stalkerishly) mentioning the cinema and lo and behold my lil' ol' blawg is mentioned again in a response. This maybe nerdy in the extreme but those tweets made mah day. Chuffage.

3. A Wine Cave, you Say?

Oooh, cavey..

I do like the odd glass of Fleurie, or Viognier or Zinfandel or whatever's handiest when in my bajamers and in on a weekend night. That's not to say I don't love to be social (occasionally) and find a nice little spot to share a glass or two.

We did just that on Friday night. KC Peaches is a newly opened (Still sniffs like paint) 'Wine Cave' on Nassau St. and I have to say they've done a great job. They've opening offers and fairly decent wines to boot (or neck). The staff are more than helpful, without doubt, we'll be back. Well worth a goo before the crowd cops on. Gorgeous.

4. There, but for the Grace of God..

Some of you may know, most of you don't, that my day job is as a Road Safety Officer. It pays the bills, mostly, but I do love it. I had the great honour today to be included in a non denominational ceremony for the World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.

It was moving to see Faith Leaders from each religion represented, the Gardaí, Emergency Services, victims and families of those that have been needlessly killed on our roads in attendance. As the children let off balloons for each of the victims I thanked all that is Holy for my youngest gorgebag. He had a near fatal accident when he was just 5 years old but recovered fully. It was the hardest thing we've ever had to endure yet we're the lucky ones. There, but for the Grace of God.

5. #Winning

Oh Man I love the Rayjo! I've told ye before that I'm lucky, I believe our whole family are and that theory is proven again and again. (See moment 4)

This week the lovely folks at FM104 thought so too and chose me to win €400 for Lidl! (That's wellies & knitting needles all round for Crimbo) and the, just as nice, folks at 98fm picked my tweet to win this gawjus, luxury gift bag from Carton House. Generous, eh?

Yes, I believe in paying it forward, we know this. If you'd like to take that copy of Carton House, Bringing the Taste Home with a €20 Lidl voucher in the cover just share with us your moment of bliss this week in the comments. I'll get the lads to pick a winner on Friday. How's about that?

Sunday, 20 November 2011

Expect to see a lot more of this talented London/Irish lyricist in the coming months, we got the opportunity to see him live a couple of weeks ago at the Battlefield 3 launch and he killed it. If you happen to get a chance to do the same jump at it, with both feet.

Thursday, 17 November 2011

I've been meaning to mention this serum for a couple of weeks now. Sent to me by the ever generous Paula, I was waiting on my HG Estée Lauder Idealist to finally give up the ghost so I could give Vichy a proper trial.

First impressions? I really like it. It's on the market (for €34 in Boots) to compliment LiftActiv day and night cream, of which I have neither but it's complimenting my Kiehl's Ultra Facial Cream superbly, Thank you very much. Whatever Vichy do, they seem to do well.

Heavy weight silver bottle with dropper included

'A major scientific breakthrough after 10 years of research' apparently, oh and 7 patents. The major ingredient here is 10% Rhamnose to stimulate activity. Vichy claim that in 10 minutes your wrinkles will appear visibly reduced and your skin texture transformed.

I found the dropper waaay too generous, one small pea size drop needed Maximum

While it makes some pretty astounding claims, I must admit that I'm loving the effects I've found after a fortnight. My skin definitely seems 'velvetier' and somewhat lifted/tighter, that's a good thing, right? It has worked on refining my pores too and provides a lovely base for makeup.

LiftActiv won't replace my Estée Lauder Idealist in the long term but right now it's getting a lot of love from me. It's a definite consideration if you'd like something to work on the beginnings (middles or ends) of wrinkles or crow's feet.